A friend of mine has put on a few pounds. (He’d like to lose 20 or 30 of them.)

He joked with me saying, “At my current weight, I could just tell people, ‘I recently lost 100 lbs,’ and they’d all say, ‘Wow! Way to go. You look great!’”

People tend to praise us based on where they think we’ve been and where they think we’re going — often more than where we are right now.

Perceived direction has a lot of influence on our perspective.

This excerpt is from a Sculpture Magazine interview. Ann Landi asks artist Bonnie Collura, “How did you go from traditional welding to working with so many diverse materials?”

I love Bonnie’s explanation.

“That was … a result of good teaching. I was a real metal head. I learned how to weld at VCU. When I was a junior, one of my teachers said, ‘You’re getting pretty close to graduating, you need to learn how to build in other ways because you might not have the money to work with metals.’ I thought I should follow that advice, so I ventured into the hardware store and bought what I could afford—sheets of polystyrene foam. I cut it thin with a bandsaw and tried to bend it just as one would heat-form steel. Instead of welding, I used duct tape to hold it all together. That helped me become more autonomous because I could build within my means, which has been a godsend when I’ve been low on funds, and it helps when I have to teach students how to build something ambitious without spending a lot of money.”

Build within your means. Be ambitious amidst constraint. Find a way.

Such good lessons. Thanks, Bonnie.

You don’t need eyes to see and you don’t need ears to hear.

And conversely, there are many with eyes and ears who remain blind and deaf.

It turns out, what we see and hear is often by choice.

You can ship with self-doubt.

You can publish with self-doubt.

You can even present with self-doubt.

We like to feel confident — and sometimes that’s the goal — but it’s not a prerequisite.

Good to keep in mind, too, that we don’t always recognize the value of our own work. What we’ve deemed mediocre might just be brilliant … if we’d give it a chance to be seen.

Thoughts do not always arrive fully formed.

Sometimes they’re just a whisper of an idea.

Or the inversion of one.

Or its cousin.

Some are like a sturdy puzzle that needs solving.

Others are a tender seedling that needs gentle care.

Either way, be patient. The thoughts are there for a reason — even if they’re young and incomplete.

Give them time.

I read about a man who surprised his anesthesiologist.

When people initially come out of sedation, they can be emotionally uninhibited. Some people cry. Some are moody. Some are agitated or even angry.

But this man began to sing.

A kind, gentle, and contented soul it must be — to sing when all the filters are stripped away.

What a beautiful thought.

“A … or B? One … or two?”

An eye exam gives us real-time choices between two options.

We’re quite comfortable making the choice when it’s clear. We don’t choose the worse option. We go with what’s better.

But we’re not as skillful when it comes to slower assessments.

Consider comparing two months with any of these criteria:

• One with caffeine. One without.

• One with social media. One without.

• One with adequate sleep. One without.

• One with vitamin supplements. One without.

• One with daily exercise. One without.

• One with a mediation practice. One without.

Are we patient enough to test? Are we sensible enough — upon learning which is better — to choose the better option?

There’s one way to find out.

Parents help troubleshoot kids’ computers. Friends help with algebra equations. Colleagues help decipher new policy memos.

You might not be an industry expert, but you’re somebody’s expert.

* * *

We all can be helpers. Embrace that role. It’s important … and we’ve all been cast to play the part.

I haven’t been getting enough sleep. My body can feel it. My brain can feel it.

Last night, at a reasonable hour, I shut the lid of my laptop and got ready for bed. All projects: paused. No further progress.

But today, I’m still tired. How disappointing! I slept more than I’ve slept in a week. Where are the results?

And of course, I realize that one night of reasonable sleep does not make up for a week of poor sleep habits. It will take another night of correction, and another, and another. Maybe some other adjustments too.

We often reach for the quick fixes to problems that have developed over long periods of time. Sometimes a quick fix will work, but most of the time it takes repeated efforts.

Here’s wishing you luck in your own repetitions.

Your expectation of the future — your predictions and assumptions — will be inaccurate.

Five years. Ten. Twenty. The further you go, the further the drift.

Alive and passed, married and divorced, where people work, where people live, what people do … it’s all subject to change.

So when we find ourselves in a moment where our expectations don’t align with reality — for better or worse — we have to remind ourselves that we we’ve never been good at predicting the future.

But we are good at being flexible. At adapting. At finding a way — and finding joy and contentment — even when our predictions were way off.

Sometimes, thankfully, they’re way off for the better.

Remember why you’re doing the things you love.

Consciously set aside all the related headaches. The annoyances. The complications.

Every joy has its minor frustrations. Set those aside for a moment.

Pause to breathe in what you love about what you love.

And if you’re not doing enough of what you love … why not change that?

If you’re selling seeds, don’t worry if there are a few holes in the bags that fill your truck. On your way back through town, you might travel flower-lined paths.

* * *

We can do good work long before we reach our destination. With every step, we encounter opportunities to share our gifts, to hone our craft, and to make things better.

How we treat others along the way is just as important as how we treat others when we get to where we’re going.

You might be headed in the right direction.

And the road is winding.

And uphill.

And not clearly marked.

And the winds are against you.

But it’s still the right direction.

* * *

The straight, gentle downhill is sometimes opposite from the way you need to go.

If you don’t feel it within you, put it on.

Put on patience.

Put on kindness.

Put on generosity.

Put on creativity.

Make a conscious choice to put these things on. With enough time, you won’t be able to distinguish between what you’ve chosen to put on and what’s always been within you.

All six-foot-plus of Jim Henson — hidden off camera, sometimes crouched below set — always with arms raised in what must have caused immeasurably sore shoulders … brought a playful, loving, sweet Kermit the Frog to life.

What hidden sacrifices do we make in order to bring joy to the world?

* * *

H/T: Kayle

Helping when it’s inconvenient.

Giving from your substance rather than your excess.

Showing compassion toward your rivals.

Speaking truth when it’s uncomfortable, but necessary.

Of the many noble options, our most valuable contributions are made when we choose the more difficult right thing to do.

All the right words are already inside you.

The challenge is putting them in the right order.

When a can of mixed nuts is shaken, the largest variety tends to end up on the surface. This phenomenon is sometimes known as the “Brazil nut effect”. It can be seen in many places: food processing, manufacturing, geology …

But it seems to happen to us, too. When we’re shaken, certain things rise to the surface.

And if it’s within us, it’s something we’ve cultivated over time.

What have you been cultivating? What comes to the surface when you’re shaken?

The person who says, “I’ll do it if no one else wants to do it,” is usually the person who ends up doing the thing.

Which means we can forgo the “if no one else wants to” portion of the phrase. We can just confidently say, “I’ll do it.”

If someone else wants to volunteer, someone else can always raise a hand.

So if you’re the initial volunteer, volunteer boldly.

For some, today is a day of great consequence.

For others, it’s merely a Saturday.

For some, today marks a terrible memory.

For others, it’s one that’s sweet: a birthday or a wedding anniversary.

Each day unfolds as someone’s dream. Each day unfolds as someone’s tragedy.

It’s a giant book with many pages and many chapters. We’re often at different places in that book — sometimes not even aware of the other readers — but we live it together, bound together, each day.

Warm wishes to you and yours … on whatever page you find yourself today.